The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on announced that Medicare Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) will serve 163,436 Medicare beneficiaries in Connecticut this year.
ACOs are groups of doctors and hospitals that join together to develop and execute a plan for a patient’s care and share information, putting the patient at the center of the healthcare delivery system. ACOs are paid by the success of the treatment administered, not by number of tests or procedures performed.
ACOs serving Medicare beneficiaries in Connecticut are: Accountable Care Coalition of Mount Kisco LLC; Hartford Healthcare Accountable Care Organization Inc.; ProHealth Physicians ACO LLC; St. Francis Healthcare Partners ACO Inc.; Westchester Medical Group PC; Hudson Accountable Care LLC; Life Health Services LLC; and Saint Mary’s Physician Partners LLC.
CMS announced 121 new ACO participants nationwide Monday. ACOs now represent 49 states and the District of Columbia.
ACOs are delivering better care and show promising results on cost savings, HHS said.
In 2014, they had a combined total net program savings of $411 million for 333 Medicare Shared Savings Program (Shared Savings Program) ACOs and 20 Pioneer ACOs, the release said.
CMS also announced that providers and hospitals have signed up to join new types of ACOs which, in addition to being paid for positive patient outcomes, will also receive penalties for negative results. With new participants in the Shared Savings Program (SSP), the Next Generation ACO Model, Pioneer ACO Model, and the Comprehensive ESRD Care Model, 8.9 million beneficiaries will now be served, HHS said.
